15 Dec 2020

North West District councillors have resolved to send a delegation to the Minister of Environment, Natural Resources Conservation and Tourism to discuss the district’s burning issues.

The resolution followed a response from the ministry on a motion tabled by Cllr Luke Motlaleselo of Bojanala ward, who requested the ministry to consider sharing the six per cent royalties with the council equitably.

Councillors did not appreciate the response by the council secretary, Mr Motlogelwa Thuso who informed them that the ministry had stated that it was not possible to apportion royalties collected with the council as that would limit extensively the ability of the fund to serve the intended national interest.

The ministry, he said, revealed that the tourism royalty was a fee levied on all Wildlife Management Area (WMA) leases and that in 2008, government took a decision that the fee be collected by the ministry since it was a levied fee on the utilisation of natural resources.

Furthermore, the response stated that the royalties were to be collected and deposited into the Tourism Development Fund. 

The house was informed that the Tourism Fund Order of 2018, established through the Public Finance Management Act CAP.54:01 by the Ministry of Finance and Economic Development identified the purpose of the fund.

It included the promotion of tourism development through effective pursuit of opportunities in the tourism sector; which are of national importance, but not as yet attractive to the private sector development. Furthermore, it was stated that the fund would promote tourism development through effective pursuit of opportunities in the tourism sector, which are of strategic importance in that they diversify the tourism sector or opportunities, which are of importance to communities and rural development.

The house was informed that the main objective of the fund was to ensure that the whole country benefited from the utilisation of natural resources within the country and not just the areas well-endowed with natural resources.

However, the response did not sit well with councillors as they said it was not convincing, as it was not addressing their concern. 

They resolved to send a delegation to the ministry to engage the minister on the issue with the hope that she would understand their grievances and give a better response.

The mover of the motion, cllr Motlaleselo said the district was not benefiting much from the royalties despite being rich in natural resources.

In areas where there are diamonds, they said, they saw construction of clinics and schools, but in their district there was nothing to show as far as royalties were concerned.

The council chairperson, Mr Kebareeditse Ntsogotlho concurred that the district was not benefiting much from the royalties. 

The district, he said, was incurring more costs because it housed many lodges, which needed compatible landfills to dispose waste.The council secretary also informed the house about another response from the ministry to a motion by Mr Ntsogotlho, who is a councillor for Khwai/Mababe.

The motion requested the ministry to consider re-opening the historical road from South Gate (Maqwee) to North Gate (Khwai). 

In response, the ministry explained that plans to re-open the said road were already in place and the development would be completed before the end of next year, following internal and external consultations led by the department of Wildlife and National Parks.

The historical road was said to have been closed in 2014 during the construction of the new South Gate wildlife camp, mainly because it was passing through the new staff residential area. ends